I came across a post by Kathy Sierra on Creating Passionate Users about How To Be An Expert and it made me think about how it applies to increasing your chances of becoming a successful entrepreneur.The author tells us as she quotes Richard Restak from his book, The Mind Game:

Most of us want to practice the things we’re already good at, and avoid the things we suck at. We stay average or intermediate amateurs forever. Yet the research says that if we were willing to put in more hours, and to use those hours to practice the things that aren’t so fun, we could become good. Great. Potentially brilliant. We need, as Restak refers to it, “a rage to master.” That dedication to mastery drives the potential expert to focus on the most subtle aspects of performance, and to never be satisfied. There is always more to improve on, and they’re willing to work on the less fun stuff. Restak quotes Sam Snead, considered one of the top five golfers of the twentieth century, as saying: “I know it’s a lot more fun to stand on the practice tee and rip your driver than it is to chip and pitch, or practice sand shots with sand flying back in your face, but it all comes back to the question of how much you’re willing to pay for success.”

The author goes onto say:

These are the folks who you overhear saying, “Yes, I know there’s a better way to do this thing, but I already know how to do it this [less efficient, less powerful] way and it’s easy for me to just keep doing it like that.”

Isn’t the latter excerpt a great example of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. I have recently come to realize how often this has occurred in my professional life, and my personal life as well.  And I have come to discover that if I am not happy with where I am, it’s up to me to change. Which brings me back to the first excerpt. Why was I not practicing the things in my business that would lead me to greatness?  I’ll give you a hint. It’s not my boss’s fault. It’s not because of my co-workers and their bad attitudes. It’s not even the systems (or lack thereof) that are in place where I work. It simply comes down to a lack of willingness on my part to take the initiative to put myself in a better position to achieve more.